Chukwununso Nomeh, an inmate of the Enugu Maximum Security prison, has emerged the overall best post-graduate student of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prisons Special Study Centres nationwide.
According to Vanguard, the spokesperson of the Nigeria Prison Service in Enugu State, Mr. Chukwuemeka Monday, made the disclosure in a statement issued in the state on Friday.
Monday said the inmate who was convicted and sentenced in 2010 gained admission for the Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programme.
He said that Nomeh graduated with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.80. He recalled that one of the ex-convicts of the same centre, Theophilus Adeniyi, emerged the overall best graduating student in 2014 while in incarceration.
The spokesperson said he was currently pursuing his PhD in one of the country’s universities. The Desk Officer of Enugu Study Centre, CSP Kelvin Iloafonsi, said two other inmates also graduated from the NOUN post-graduate school. Iloafonsi said one of them had since been released.
The Controller of Prison in the state, Ndubuisi Ogbodo, urged the inmates to enroll in the NOUN and embrace the transformation mantra of the Controller General of Prison, Ja’afaru Ahmed.
Ogbodo said the transformation agenda focused on training and retraining of both staff and inmates.
The controller of prisons also called on the public to accept ex-convicts as reformed and responsible members of the society.
He said their continuous rejection would only lead them back to crime.